A new device that looks like home pregnancy test kits for women but checks sperm count will soon be available in Europe, and is undergoing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review for marketing in the US.



The invention is credited to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

The test helps couples find out if the male is a factor in the infertility without going for semen tests as prescribed by doctors. This will help people who are shy of seeing a doctor.

As far as the accuracy of the SpermCheck Fertility test is concerned, the researchers compared the results with standard laboratory sperm count methods, using 225 semen samples. The tests were accurate 96 percent of the time. Ninety-five percent of the time a laboratory professional and a lay person got the same result when reading a single test independently.

Sperm counts of 20 million per milliliter of semen and above are considered normal. The test will tell a man whether or not his sperm count meets this cutoff, and if it doesn't whether he has a severely low sperm count (below 5 million sperm per milliliter). If both strips are negative, it's important that they then seek medical treatment for the infertility.

The test works by detecting an antigen found on the surface of the head of a sperm cell known as SP-10. The work of discovering SP-10 and developing the test took about 10 years.

While women only need to drop a drop of their urine on text stick to see if they're pregnant or close to ovulation, the SpermCheck Fertility test requires a few more steps.

Users let the semen rest for 20 minutes, collect 100 microliters using a pipette, and mix the semen with a detergent-containing substance known as a buffer, which releases the SP-10 protein from the sperm. Users then put a few drops of this mix into the two sample wells. Within seven minutes, the test results will appear in test windows above the wells.

We hope that this gadget comes to other countries including India soon.